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Thursday, May 7, 2015

Book Review: A Thousand Pieces Of You (Firebird #1) by: Claudia Gray

Source: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via edelweiss in exchange for a fair and honest review.

"Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure."

My Thoughts:

My feelings on this book are very very confused. There are aspects
of it that I love, but there are also a lot of aspects that made me very very
cranky. I keep going back and forth with my feelings on this one because my
brain grabs on to some things and loves it but then it grabs on to others and
wants to smacks things. So this review is probably going to be all over the
place.

I’m going to start with what bugged me so we can end the review on
a happy note. The first thing that drove me absolutely insane was how dumb some
of the characters could be. I mean, we are told the characters are smart and
they are smart, but then some of the decisions they made were just not in line
with that. The characters just didn’t see things when it was convenient for the
story. And I don’t fault characters for making bad decisions, because we all
do, what bothers me with this is that it was inconsistent for the characters.

Then I felt as if the story was repetitive at times. They would
jump to a dimension, have to find each other, find out new things, and move
along. Sometimes I felt like parts of the story didn’t even contribute to the
overall arc. For example, the prominent dimension in the story is a dimension
where Russia is still ruled by the Romanov Empire. While I enjoyed this
dimension, I felt like it wasn’t integral to the overall plot of the story and
was there as a device to bring two characters closer together.

The other thing that bugged me is that this entire world is built
on a very very thin line and it doesn’t take much to poke holes in it. For
example, in the main dimension Marguerite has an older sister, but then in
another dimension she doesn’t. I just don’t get how this works… wouldn’t the
first child her parents have always be the first child… or does it have to do
with when they have the child… I don’t know but that didn’t work for me and
just felt convenient. And then the author explains that in other dimensions
where the firebird doesn’t exist, other people won’t be able to see it because
it technically doesn’t exist there so their mind passes over it. Okay cool,
that makes sense to me in sci fi book land. But then while she is in the
Russian dimension, there are two distinct instances where characters who shouldn’t
be able to see the device do see it and both of those instances are major
events in how the story plays out. So it’s a rule of the worlds that other
dimensions “can’t see the firebird” except when it needs to be seen in order
for the story to work. I don’t know. Maybe I’m having trouble wrapping my head
around it all, but this just never sat right with me.

And now for the things I liked. I absolutely LOVED the romance. It
was beautiful and sweet and gorgeous. I was rooting for Paul and Marguerite the
entire time. It is so clear right from the get go that these two have something
special. Those two together are wonderful. Paul was easily my favorite
character and made the book for me. Right now the story is teetering on the
line of love triangle… I wouldn’t say it is one, but I can see how the story
may twist to make it one and I swear if that happens, I am going to be
soooooooo mad.

I also loved the last 20% of this one and I felt like that is when
we finally started to see things happen that were directly involved in the main
storyline. There were plot twists towards the end that took me completely by
surprise. I loved that the book was able to do that. One of those twists I even
guessed SUPER early on and then I convinced myself I was wrong and out ruled it…
so well played Claudia Gray well played.

All in all, A Thousand Pieces of You was a very back and forth
read for me. I think I’m intrigued enough to continue with the series…
honestly, I want to keep going for Paul alone. Plus the concept is truly unique
and I do appreciate that aspect, I just hope the next book sees less deviation
and more development with the storyline I feel is at the center of this all.

5 comments:

I appreciate your honest review. I'm glad the romance was good. Your concerns give me pause as to whether I want to take the time on this one. There are just so many good books out there to fill my little amount of reading time.

Oh, sorry this one wasn't as good as you hoped, but I'm glad to read there where some aspects you did like. I hate encountering books I just can't decide if I like them or not.. back and forth emotions are the worst. I'm glad the romance aspect was something you loved!

Huh, now that you mention it, I guess those inconsistencies kind of suck. I'm a terrible reader though bc I didn't even notice all of that, although that could have to do w/listening to it on audio. I LOVED the audiobook so much bc the narrator was amazing with the voices. The sci-fi was confusing at times, but yes, the romance was good.

Man, I hate when Blogger eats my comments. So I'm thinking I'm going to pass on this one. Wendy wasn't crazy about it either. But it was one of Tonya's favorites... so I dunno. Haha. I'm glad the romance was great though- that's ALWAYS a good thing when it comes to a book you have some issues with!

Disclaimer

In accordance with the FTC Guidelines, I would like you all to know that all of the books I review are either purchased by myself, received as a gift, borrowed from a library, or received free from the author/publisher for review. No form of monetary compensation is involved.